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Inside Washington (03/15/2012)

WASHINGTON (3/16/12)--Revised Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) rules issued last July by the Department of Justice went into effect Thursday. The area receiving the most attention from credit unions is Section 707, which requires, among other things, that ATMs be speech-enabled for use by the visually impaired. This means operating instructions, visible transaction prompts, user-input verification, error messages, and any other displayed information for full use of the machine must be accessible to, and independently usable by, individuals with vision impairments. Speech must be recorded or digitized human, or synthesized, and delivered through a mechanism that is readily available to all ATM users, such as through a telephone handset or a headset plugged into an audio jack. Section 220 of the accessibility guidelines states that where ATMs are provided, at least one accessible machine must be provided at each location to comply with the ATM standards in Section 707. In general, if a credit union provides both interior and exterior ATMs, they will be considered separate locations …

WASHINGTON (3/16/12)--It's official: the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions confirmed that its departing leader of 32 years, Clifford N. Rosenthal, will move to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on May 7 to become the bureau's assistant director of its Office of Financial Empowerment. The federation announced Thursday that its leadership--both Rosenthal and board chairman Lynda Milton--will conduct a press conference during the Credit Union National Association's Governmental Affairs Conference next week to discuss the organization's plans for transition. The press conference is set for Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. (ET) …